, 1887-07-14
YSLETA'S DISTINCTION.
1 Claims to bo tho Scene of the First
white Settlement.
iSpecial Correspondefice1
Ell PAso, Tex, July /.

| N. NJ, and San Augustine, Fla, are wrangling
| over rival claims to the first white settlement
| In the United States, / would call attention to
tho fact that the honor belongs to Ysleta, a
quaint, queer little town, nino miles from FL
Paso. as tho crow 1ies. Away back, when
tho dark ages were melting into very un.
certain dawn, In 1886, TO be accurate an ad-
venturous band Of Spaniards found their way
somehow UP through the rock ribbed passes
and over the desolate mesas, and built q
mission church there. 1t was a fashion OF
these Spaniards, not gone out of date yet by
tho way, to pnnctuate tho record Of their
misdeeds with churches, and they must have
been hardy fellows, for it seems that they
pressed the natives into service and built this
one good and strong. with stone walls ten
feet thick. And SO IL stands. after all these
800 years, the only monument of the day. Their
glitteriDg casques came winding up the valley
and they took the land in the name Of God
and of CASTLE.
The old church lifts itself nowadays above
n struggling adobe village of some $500 souls
mainly Indians and Mexicans. The low
"jacals," or dugout houses, with mud roofs
give it a (ftitious height, but I judge it3 par.
npct to DO not moro than t,7enty feet above
the ground. 1t is In q state OF good preser-
NutlOu. lHt tcU IOOU WILLS nave worn uOWn
TO less than six, but they are firm. il makes
ono feel how short life Is to think that the
slow erosion Of the elements planed Off these
four feet of granite rock, grain by grain. but
tho tread Of countless worshipers has car
ried away tho threshold altogether and left
nothing but ragged fragment at either side
to show that 1t once was there.
AT ono corner ofthe edifice Is low, rectan-
gular tower, with open sides. There is some-
thing distinctly Moorish in its suggestion. and
inside bell is still hung, and still rings for
service every night. The sockets In which its
nxle turns are worn into long grooves, and
the tower itself seems ON the point of toppling
over; yet in the recent earthquake, that fairly
shook the Mexicans out of their adobcs, not a
handful of rock fell from it, But it has seen
so many earthquakes in its time that it posi-
bly, has private understanding with them
AT night time, at intervals of week or
two, this curious structure is the background
for an extraordinary ceremony. At the
RI ging of the bell, just at deep dusk, the In
dial steal from their "jacals" and collect be-
fore the door. a fire is lighted in the omen
space and casts Pickering and spectral illu-
mlnation over the Masonic walls and circle of
superstitious faces, and all the while the bell
Is throbbing, slowly, like dying pulse, up In
the old square tower. Suddenly some ono
starts chant. IL Is not in words, not in any
language; the Indians do not understand IL
themselves; it is simply wild wall Of sound,
Inexpensive and yet full of suggestion--as
sad as the night wind. Gradually the crowd
catch the refrain. The listener Is sensible of
a curious effect; he feels as IL no wero being
mesmerized. There Is nothi~y human about
n, and imperceptibly it SWELL and wells and
crows fierce and rapid, and before ono is half
n IN nf fha At.as
pecan, echoing 20 the very hills Meantime
the tolling has grown swift and tumultuous:
the fire, on which fresh brush is heaped,
leaps up in fantastic harmony, and a new
sound breaks out. 1t is the rapid beating Of
q native drum and falls with startling effect
upon the ear. The drum itself Is like the TOM
tom OF East India, a sheepskin head stretched
over kettle shaped wicker body, and the
drummer sways to and fro with sharp ges-
as he brandishes his sticks By
this time the music has grown into a pande-
moniuin, and yet a certain inexplicable
rhythm, impossible to describe in words, is
through 1t.
The circle of faces, stold enough at first,
begins to break and waver. The features
are convulsed with excitement, and at last,
with common motion, a score of the natives
plunge into the open space and begin an
uDsDIultly lHutStIlbuDle udTCe. NO NOOuOO
orgie in the cypress swamps of Alabama ever
paralleled it. The dancers are in q sort of
frenzy, and, still chanting the ear stabbing
and unearthly melody, whirl, leap and
writhe like dervishes of Algiers. A dozen
squaws join them. Their movements arc
still more curious, and consist simply of an
upward leap, from which they alight squarely
on their heels, the body stiff and rigid. It
jars ones very spine to even look at them,
but they don't seem to mind it. The hands,
while this Is going on, are held cenched at
the sides, and their features work like those
of an epileptic. Indeed, it is no infrequent
thing for one Of them to fall, shriexing and
foaming in a fit. Those who do not partici-
pate are in a state of frantic but suppressed
excitement. Their eyes glitter; the chant
has become scream; they pant and tremble
and gasp.
When the eerie spectacle is at its height,
the dancing figures fitting like phantas-
magoria before the flames the bell Changing
and the drum beating its satanic tattoo, dis
charge Of firearms is heard from the out
skirts of the crowd, and instantly, as if by
necromancy, everything ceases The sudden
cessation makes one fairly giddy. The
dancers stink silently away into the dark,
the fire is hastily stamped out, the crowd
disperses on the thought, and before the last
reverberations Of the song, IL song it might
be called, have died away the place is de-
serted. No trick change was ever made
upon the spectacular stage more suddenly.
And what does 1t all meant confess
frankly don't know. 1t seemed to me that
there were articulate pauses in the chant that
might have once stood for words-words for
gotten and grown meaningless in the lapse Of
years, but am not sure. At any event it is
the remnant Of some religious ceremony, the
significance Of which has been lost and only q
grotesque semblance of its form retained
Forms are always the last to die. The
Indians do not know. 1t has been handed
down to them from time out Of mind until
its rites are interviewer in their natures. III {,
old church could read the riddle, perhapJ.
but its only tongue hengs in the battered
Spanish bell, and that tells a different tale to